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It can be annoying when you finish a project and the client doesn’t like your work or picks holes in the quality.

The trouble is that if the project was large you’re probably out of pocket, but don’t despair you can sell unpaid articles online, read on to find out how.

Before You Send Work to a Client

It depends on how well you know a client as to how much you trust them to pay an invoice. But with this said, if you make a habit of doing certain things no matter how long you’ve been providing customers with copy. it means you protect your work no matter what and set things up nicely should you need to sell unpaid articles elsewhere.

Prior to sending valuable copy/content to a client, try setting up a routine as follows which helps keep work safe and sets things up nicely to sell unpaid articles online:

Copyright your work – watermark or other

Register your work with a company like SampleSafe – this service automatically checks for plagiarism too!

Next, push the send button so your client receives the work, remembering to inform them the content/copy has been registered or has a copyright watermark on it which is the polite thing to do.

What to Do if Payment Doesn’t Appear

If payment is not forthcoming or the client starts to give you grief in any way, shape or form and you feel they are doing their level best to get out of paying your invoice, you have several options open to you which are as follows:

Publish your copy/content/articles on your own blog – it’s yours so you have the right to do this because until the work is paid for the copyright still belongs to you!

If you did register your work with SampleSafe request that it be added to the “Unpaid Content For Sale” page on their website – there’s a tiny fee for this service, but nothing compared to not getting paid at all!

Start proceedings against the client for the unpaid invoice – this can be costly and time consuming which means you have to weigh up whether or not it’s worth the hassle!

If you find the client has used your copy anyway, report them to Google – this can take a long time to prove but sometimes it works and is worth it – the downside is you still don’t get paid for your work!

Offer your work to other clients who might need similar topics written – again the wait can be pretty long when it comes to getting paid but at least you get to sell unpaid articles online

Tips & Advice

Be careful when you agree to work for new clients

Be wary when you are asked to provide copy by a “middle man” for one of their clients – this can often lead to payment issues and you never know who you should be really talking to in order to resolve the problem

Always try to resolve the problem before you do anything, but if the client continues to be difficult then take action

Always ask for a deposit before you start any project and make sure the deposit is not just a fraction of the total cost of the work – it should be at least two thirds of the total!

If you are new to the virtual writing scene, sign up to a few freelancing websites and then work through them bearing in mind you have to stick to their rules – do not abuse their terms and conditions because it could mean your account gets suspended – sometimes indefinitely!

Always remain professional, a client is a client and not a friend – you should be amicable but you have to remember the customer is not your best buddy or close family friend but someone you are doing business with!

Conclusion

Until you receive full payment for your work, the copy remains yours and you can do what you want with it. This includes publishing the work yourself on your own website or you can sell unpaid articles online through a third party of your choice!